He heaped praise on the commitment of his players but was critical of them losing possession too often to allow the Tangerines to dominate spells.

Clark thought Blues should have capitalised on an opening 30-minute spell which saw them take the lead through Jesse Lingard in the 27th minute only for Ricardo Fuller to earn Blackpool their away point with his third goal of the season.

"I thought we started the game brightly following our win at Huddersfield," Clark said.

"We took the lead and then lost our concentration and gave the ball away cheaply.

"I thought that was the big factor and we struggled to get any forward momentum.

"We also lost possession far too easily and there is a lot of work to be done in this department.

"I cannot fault the players for their effort and application. They have fought, they have battled and taken on board the fact that, if you cannot win, do not lose the match.

"It became open in the closing stages with chances at both ends. All in all I was disappointed because I wanted to take all three points."

It certainly looked very promising when Lingard opened the scoring following a long cross from the right by Paul Caddis.

But Tom Ince then put his first mark on the game by producing the cross from which Fuller grabbed his 35th-minute equaliser.

Ince went close to snatching the winner only for Dan Burn to clear off the line, while Lee Novak saw Blackett make a similar clearance for Blackpool. Out-of-luck Novak also hit the bar with a looping header in the last couple of minutes.

But it is Ince's form which is a particular problem for his father, Paul.

The Blackpool boss has now completed his five-match stadium ban but finds himself in something of a quandary involving his son, who produced another quality performance which justifies the attention he is getting from Premier League clubs.

However, Alex Rae, who has deputised for Paul Ince, that Tom Ince is intent on helping Blackpool regain their Premier League status.

Rae said: "It is obviously difficult as there are a number of Premier League clubs interested in him.

"There was a bid of £8million accepted in the summer so it will be difficult but he has said he will be with Blackpool until the summer.

"This is beneficial for both his father and Blackpool because obviously he is a really bright talent and there is still a lot more to come from him."

Rae said Blackpool were well on the way to their first objective of picking up 52 points to secure their safety.

He said: "We were one of the favourites to go down but we started the season really well. Expectations have since gone up and with this bunch of players they have a fine spirit.

"I've enjoyed my five games in charge despite some hard games such as Nottingham Forest and Birmingham away, plus a couple of local games against Wigan and Blackburn. The only disappointment was losing at Ipswich.

"But we have only lost one home game since February and the points return for the boys is decent."

Rae added: "I thought we should have nicked the game against Birmingham.

"We dominated the game after the opening 25 minutes. They had a couple of chances at the death but I thought we were the team which looked most likely to get the winner.

"But give Birmingham credit - they were chasing the winner right until the final whistle."